Anonymous

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Spit & Vigor Theatre Company has an interesting approach to stagecraft at least with its return engagement of Nick Thomas’ Anonymous, now at their new home at the Tiny Baby Black Box Theatre. The play which takes place at a weekly meeting of an addiction support group has the audience sit in a circle and then embeds the actors in the circle without acknowledging the rest of us. This gives the play an immediacy it might not have had otherwise. The audience feels like they are part of the monthly group even though we are not seen by the actors.

On the other hand, Sara Fellini’s direction is so broad that the actors all seem like they are overacting considering that the audience is only feet away. The play would be much more convincing if they all took it down a few notches. Some of the actors seem to be hamming it up – unless it is simply that we are sitting next to them or across from them that their performances seem to be too big for the tiny venue.

The play depicts a night of crisis in this ongoing group in 1992.  (Why the play is set back 34 years is never explained except that almost all of the participants smoke which they would not be allowed to do today.) Support leader Charlie has notified member Richard that he will not be at tonight’s meeting and asked Richard to facilitate for the first time. Nervous at his first gig, Richard sets up the coffee, cookies and the chairs while he waits for others to appear. (The audience is invited to partake of the coffee and cookies.) Most of them were not notified by Charlie of the change, though some were.

When Richard calls the meeting to order, several immediately volunteer to declare witness – though none of them speak of falling off the wagon or of backsliding which is what we might expect to hear. Michael, a middle-aged businessman, speaks of liking to make money and liking to party. Richard reports that it is 18 months since he broke up with his girlfriend and he has not been able to move on. Sarah, a former actress and model, speaks of the temptations of being a bartender in a skimpy costume to pay the rent. She misses the old days when she received four offers a week, now usually only one a month.

Wealthy Elizabeth reminisces about her active social life and how she started drinking at 16 from a bottle in the liquor cabinet of a friend’s father. Blake, a young ambulance driver and paramedic, arrives late due to a car accident in which he has not been able to save the occupant. He is quite broken up about this. In a breakthrough, Diana (previously silent) speaks for the first time and tells her story. And one by one we find out that most of the participants are either lying or not telling their whole story. And then Charlie arrives drunk with bad news and proceeds to expose each of their lies and evasions.

The problem with Thomas’ play is that most of the stories are both generic and not surprising. Richard is criticized for still going on about his ex after a year and a half. Elizabeth may not have as lively a social life as she pretends. Blake’s addiction is due to the fact that he has found out the hard way you can’t save everyone, not that big a surprise. Sarah’s problem is simply aging out: models and actresses have more offers when young and even today find work had to get after 39. The news Charlie comes to report would push anyone back to drinking. Things don’t get tense until almost the end when Charlie goes to take something unexpected out of his coat pocket.

The actors seem be giving bigger than life performances even though the events are more typical than not. Fellini as Elizabeth is rather affected and mannered though there is no evidence that she is from American aristocracy. As Blake, Steve Gamble’s meltdown seems overdone though he had provocation it that day’s events. Alternating with Adam Belvo in the role of Michael, Nick Thomas’ Australian accent is never accounted for. And how Jesse James Metz as Charlie has kept his drinking under wraps remains a mystery.

The production values in the small space are fine: Fellini’s costumes are pitch perfect for these characters while her prop design is suitable for the meeting at hand. The cast sit on wooden folding chairs, the audience on various upholstered chairs. The space is perfectly suitable for the cast of seven. While Nick Thomas’ Anonymous is not particularly revealing it does offer a form of verisimilitude few Off Broadway plays can provide.

Anonymous (through February 28, 2026)

Spit & Vigor Theatre Company

Tiny Baby Blackbox Theatre, 115 Macdougal Street, Studio #3C (Third Floor), in Manhattan

For tickets, visit http://www.spitnvigor.com/anonymous

Running time: 90 minutes without an intermission